There are a great many different types of storage devices on the market embracing a variety of different techniques and designs for storage volumes, containers, shelving systems and the means for assembling them. There are also numerous types of construction sets, building blocks and interlocking accessories useful as toys. There are also varied designs for joining and attaching components and structures together for such storage systems, wall shelving, toys, and in the shelter fabrication and assembly industry, among others. The patent categories related to this invention have been identified as: collapsible crates, open-end boxes and containers; modular shelving, display racks, and storage devices; housing and building materials, larger structures, paneling and tiles; workspace management systems; toy construction sets and accessories; joints and interlocking features.
The category of crates and containers includes numerous prior inventions for desired ornamental appearances and for functions of stackable and often collapsible, knock-down, and foldable types of containers similar, for example, to the common milk crate and the like. U.S. Pat. Nos. D273,338; D273,523 through D273,526; D277,797 through D277,800; 4,619,371; and 4,911,303, as illustrations, show various designs of such single-piece stackable crates. Often these crate designs include small tabs or other features that align the crates when situated side-by-side or with one on top of another.sup.-- (typical vertical stacking). Actual use of these crates in non-vertical stacking situations, however, demonstrates that the crates are not well-connected to one another and are therefore susceptible to separation and disorganization. A collapsible container, moreover, is often desired for its more-compact shape when not being used to transport or store objects or materials. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,433, for example, the need for edge strength in a knockdown box is recognized and the structure accordingly includes a frame of stronger material in the fold-over wall panels of the container. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,931, the walls of the container are held together by simple grooves and connecting strips. These two concepts allow for the compact stacking of the wall panels when not in use; but when in use, however, the joints are not strong enough to resist shear loads and side loads that occur when the containers are oriented with the "top" opening disposed sideways. While improvements in these structural deficiencies have been addressed, they still exist in prior single-piece crates and containers, as well as in the more robust, often plastic and ribbed, designs of, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,485,433; 3,613,931; 4,044,910; 4,238,044; 4339047; 4,343,400; 4,789,075; 4,917,255; 4,923,079; 4,940,155; 4,964,349; 5,094,356; 5,398,834; and 5,398,835. Such prior collapsible container designs have numerous varied mating features; some even include springs and small parts that must be assembled into the container wall panels. These complicated features and numerous parts, however, add to the cost of the products without actually significantly improving structural quality when stacked with openings oriented sideways. The panels themselves, moreover, are different within each container set, with sides and bottoms being significantly different from one another, thereby increasing the number of components that must be manufactured, distributed, stored and inventoried. Also, when stacking these containers in arrays, container walls are redundant--neighboring container units can share common walls, but these designs do not provide a means of sharing walls in semi-permanent applications such as storage and object organization and similar useages.
In the field of modular shelving, display racks, and storage devices, there are three general classes of such devices: single-piece storage units that interlock; free-standing modular shelving-type designs; and shelving designs for wall-mounted assemblies.
The prior single-piece container type designs in this grouping include means for more rigid attachment to neighboring containers, as opposed to the alignment features of the crates of the previously-described section which provide alignment and very little resistance to dismounting. Systems of this type include the structures of, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,964,809; 3,999,818; 4,528,916; and 4,889,254. The design of U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,809 features a locking tab and pin component on the inside of one of the unit cabinet walls that interlocks with the component on another stacked cabinet unit. While this secures a plurality of container units together in a more rigid fashion, the additional locking elements to each cabinet unit raises part count and increases the cost of such units. U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,818 shows a storage module with interlocking dovetail projections and grooves that are integral to each unit and that allow slide-motion interlocking at any of the five walls of the module, the sixth side being open. These grooves and projections, however, are numerous and leave the outer walls of any unattached unit with a non-flat surface. The walls between attached units, moreover, are redundant. For applications where a storage configuration is not often changed, this redundancy costs the user some storage space and money. U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,254 is a similar design for interlocking boxes in which the unit boxes have dovetail features on the four sides so that a two-dimensional array of container units can be formed. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,642, as a further example, a display and storage rack is disclosed for cassettes and like shapes and that is comprised of single storage units that can be attached to other identical units to form a larger structure. The design of previously cited U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,916, as still another illustration, relates to the customization of safety deposit boxes, and provides a means of using a single, shared partition wall between adjacent safety deposit box volumes that can be removed only when the two doors of the adjacent boxes have been opened. The width of the boxes, however, is not changeable, nor can the array of boxes be modified to be larger or smaller than the outside frame structure, so that all modifications to the array must occur inside that given frame.
Prior art shelving and structure designs that are of the modular, free-standing types are also numerous. Examples are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,964,810; 3,986,316; 4,934,858; 4,940,149; 4,940,150; 4,964,150; 5,158,187; involving separate shelf units and post units. By combining shelf units and the requisite number of post units, a customizable shelf structure of any integral dimensions can be obtained. In some of these designs, the shelf units are shared by adjacent storage volumes, and in some designs, the post units are also shared by adjacent shelf units. Thus, these structures are more efficient in terms of element usage as they do not result in redundant members. Such designs either involve additional parts, like the several parts that make up a post unit in U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,316 or the multiple components of the shelf unit of U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,350, for example, or the attachment between the posts and shelf units are susceptible to separation by side, shear or upward forces. Another approach is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,982, using a corner joint of vertical and horizontal rail members of a modular assembly of an open frame. But such a design does not allow change in array size of a given frame without replacing original rail members with longer or shorter rail members, resulting in several unused original members, which is deemed undesirable and wasteful.
Previously proposed wall-mounted shelving designs are also numerous and extensive. U.S. Pat. No. 3,965,826 is an example of prior wall-mounted shelving comprised of rails that are mounted to a wall, cantilever brackets that fit into the rails, and shelf elements that are placed on the brackets. While this type of shelving is popular and widely used, it requires the mounting of rails to walls, which does not allow for simple removal or lateral relocation of the shelving. For those users who do not have the skills or tools safely to mount the brackets to the wall, moreover, this design is not desirable. These wall-mounted designs, furthermore, do not provide for integrated divisions along a shelf, so additional bookends and the like must be used. Such a wall-mounted system is also often difficult to make aesthetically attractive in its setting, since the rails and brackets are quite visible.
Turning now to the art embracing modular housing and building materials, large structures and paneling, the construction industry often uses modular materials that allow for the construction of structures involving joined modular components such as wall elements, tiles and panels. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,290 discloses interlocking connectors to attach structural components together. This connector features a multiple dovetail cross-section that slides into the attaching structural unit along the edge of that unit and thus prevents detachment in the orthogonal direction. As will later be more fully explained, for the purposes of the present invention such multiple dovetail joint configurations are not well suited to connect multiple components at a single joint since the multiple dovetail features make the connector rather large at each joint. U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,388 also shows the use of a dovetail clamp to connect adjacent construction members, but in this use, where elements are pushed together to mate, adequate pulling forces in the opposite direction or twisting can cause the joint to fail. When the dovetail joint is used in a sliding fashion, as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,942,290; 4,884,378; and 4,688,362, for example, and as is typically done in wood-working joints, an assembled structure has stronger joints; but when using a plastic or rubbery material that can undergo elastic or plastic deformation, a dovetail protrusion can pull out of the dovetail groove. As still a further approach, U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,362 discloses a basic set of modules that can form end-to-end, T-, L- or cross-joints without using end-to-end, T-, L- or cross-connectors. The end features have dovetail or like coupling-shaped protrusions and grooves in such a fashion that the elements of the basic set of modular parts can form walls without additional connectors or parts. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,817,356 and 4,922,678 are further illustrations that describe prior sets of structural elements having mating features to assemble the structures.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,932,976 and 5,074,093 are exemplary of prior techniques involving interlocking tiles and panels. The joints disclosed in the patents, however, are meant for low-load applications and are thus not well-suited for the hereinafter described applications of the present invention.
In still another field, that of workspace management systems, the organization of the workplace often involves the separation of space into personal or smaller workspaces. Illustrative approaches to suitable structures are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,038,534; 5,038,539 and 5,394,658, all disclosing designs describing the numerous modules and pieces involved in assembling customizable workspace management systems. The joints between modules, however, do not scale well for the later-described applications intended by the present invention; on the other hand, the present invention discloses designs of joints that can well be applied to the workspace management system designs.
Discussing, now, the field of toy construction sets and accessories, there exist on the market many popular and successful toy construction sets which comprise building blocks, attaching elements and joints in many variations. These include, for example, the current designs known as LEGO.RTM., Duplo.RTM., and K'Nex.TM.. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,005,282; 3,162,973; 3,597,875; 4,571,200; 4,585,422; 4,895,548; 5,061,219; 5,137,486 and 5,350,331 describe some of the designs for elements of these and other toy systems. In each of these designs, the assembly of interlocking pieces is made simple enough for children to assemble, while providing adequate structural properties to withstand loads and forces typical of the playing environment. For larger loads and twisting forces, however, the joints may not be adequate.
There also exist a great number of accessories for such play sets. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,314 involving a container on which construction blocks may be attached and in which the same blocks may be stored. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,000 discloses a play kit with a detachable play surface, a carrying case with a playing surface on which building blocks may be attached and in which the blocks may be stored. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,758, a play tray with hinged legs is provided. In each of these accessory designs, the case or container serves a second purpose in addition to its play value. These designs, however, do not lend themselves to the building of larger-scale structural arrays with play and storage value by elements that are themselves modular building entities.
In addition to the joining techniques and interlocking features disclosed in the patents discussed above, there are many other prior joint designs that have proposed, such as those disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,991,535; 4,233,878; 4,542,702; 4,545,698; 4,629,161; 4,820,077; 4,825,529; 4,962,805; 5,018,628; 5,137,239; 5,397,087; 5,399,043; 5,399,044; 5,433,053; and 5,439,309.
Despite all these varied approaches over the years in the many fields above-described, there still remains the need and the desire for providing improved modular elements, components and accessories for economical, attractive, practical and simple customizable modular storage systems, and also for toy sets, workspace management systems, and housing and building applications, by employing novel and robust designs that are easy to make and assemble and that eliminate the various disadvantages of prior art techniques as before described.
Even in the light of all the designs that have been previously developed, indeed, the most popular and widely-used design for modular storage is still that of the common "milk crate", or a formed cubicle storage container. This is due to the fact that it is inexpensive and widely available; however, it is also unstable when stacked with open ends horizontal for loading with objects unless one takes the time to bolt or affix the crates together. In the end, however, they still look like milk crates, and they are bulky to ship, and they take up a large amount of shelf space in stores and inventories. The wall thickness, moreover, is not sufficient to support substantial loads such as books. Furthermore, because they must sell for little money to attract buyers, the return on investment for a retailer with limited shelf space or stockroom space is very low. If, indeed, one needs to assemble an array of 20 milk crates in a home or office to form a wall unit this is most awkward.
This has led to the development of the present invention that, in one application, provides what might be characterized as "take-apart milk crates". Such novel and structurally-sound design of modular storage units and accessories also leads to greater applications of these storage systems, with the designs, detailed features, and means of assembly readily scaleable for other applications as well, such as workspace management systems, modular housing construction, and toy construction systems among others.